Where Are The Signs?
by Mac-alicious
Summary: Lucas knows what it looks like when Maya likes someone. / / in which, Farkle is a good friend and Riley has comedic timing. Lucaya. Oneshot.


**A/N:** Okay, so this is my second full length Lucaya oneshot. It's a little more playful than the first one. Once again, they've been aged up to near the end of high school. I actually like how this one came out, and it's the one that kind of solidified my stance as a Lucaya shipper. I still ship Joshaya too, because I like keeping my options open for variety, but Lucaya is where it's at. I also kind of liked my Farkle and Riley in this one too, as little as they're in it. I might have a Riley x Farkle one shot in me. That may be the next thing I work on. Anyway. Let me know what you think. Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! ~Mac

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own GMW.

 **Where Are The Signs?**

"Can I be completely honest with you for a minute, Lucas?" Farkle asked as he sat down across from his friend at the cafeteria table.

Lucas hadn't seen Farkle arrive at their table. He didn't even realize he had company until Farkle had spoken. Lucas's attention was fixated too entirely on a point across the room. There was a chance that he wasn't aware of what he was agreeing to when he replied.

"Sure, buddy."

Farkle leaned over the table and snapped his fingers directly in front of Lucas's face. This finally broke him out of whatever trance he was in. Lucas blinked and drew his brows together as he focused on Farkle.

"What?" Lucas demanded.

"You're not fooling anyone," Farkle said.

Lucas plucked a french fry off of Farkle's tray and dropped it in his mouth. "About what?"

"About what, he says. You know what about," Farkle said. When Lucas reached for a second fry, he knocked the offending hand away. "No. You don't get anymore of my fries if you're going to keep playing dumb. You can buy your own."

"I'm not—"

Farkle narrowed his eyes and kept his hand at the ready as Lucas's hand began to creep back toward his lunch.

Lucas pulled his hand back to his side of the table. "Fine, keep your fries. I'm not hungry anyway."

"Uh-huh," Farkle mumbled and started to dig into his food. With his mouth full of fries only half swallowed, he went on. "So, let's pretend you're not being a complete doofus, so we can have a mature conversation."

"You shouldn't start a _mature_ conversation by talking with your mouth full," Lucas replied with a grimace. "You're spittin' potato."

Farkle wiped his mouth and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Mr. Manners. But let's try to stay on topic."

"What exactly is the topic?" Lucas asked.

"You and your obsessive denial," Farkle said.

"Humor me," Lucas tapped his fingers in rhythmic pattern on the table top. "What am I in denial about?"

Farkle's eyes wandered across the room until they landed on the spot Lucas had been staring at earlier. Reflexively, Lucas followed his friend's gaze and tried to maintain his neutral expression when he picked out what had been lined up in their sight. He turned back to the table and focused on an area where the paint on the table top had been scraped off in a lame excuse for a tag. It was better than meeting Farkle's eyes, which were now boring into the top of his head. Farkle was not to be deterred though. A little resistance would not stop him. Farkle was a small yet powerful ball of fury when he was determined.

Farkle cleared his throat and Lucas tried not to groan as he looked up again.

"You have feelings for Maya," Farkle said, and leveled a look at Lucas that dared him to deny it again now that it had been said out loud. It was a look he had most likely learned from the aforementioned blonde spitfire.

Instead of trying to deny it or change the subject, Lucas tried to evade it entirely by staying completely silent.

"I'm going to take your silence as tacit agreement," Farkle said, "and continue this conversation like we're both on the same page."

Lucas continued to blink at him, giving not even the smallest facial tic to indicate what he was thinking behind his forced blank expression.

"Great, so here we go," Farkle clapped his hands once and rubbed them together like the evil genius that he was. "You seem to think that pretty face of yours hides everything, but you've got tells, man, loads of them. Anyone who looks closely enough can see it. You know, besides the fact that, before I came over here, you were literally staring at her for five straight minutes."

"I wasn't—" Lucas started.

There was that look again. It didn't look as good on Farkle. Lucas actually preferred it on Maya, even though seeing it on her usually meant he was in real, deep trouble. There were a lot of things he liked better on Maya. The dress she was wearing that day, for instance. He had been staring at her long enough, while she chatted with her friends from the art club across the cafeteria, to notice that she was clothed entirely from Riley's closet. That meant there had probably been an impromptu sleepover the night before. It wasn't hard to figure out. Even though the two girls' styles had started to overlap even more over the years, Riley had grown lanky while Maya had filled out without growing much taller than when he first met her. It was enough of a difference that everything of Riley's hugged Maya's curves a little snugger and all the hems rode a little higher. This particular dress revealed so much leg that he hadn't been able to stop staring at that dangerously shifting skirt. Then she had laughed, tossing her head back, spilling all her masses of blonde curls down her back and revealing the lean slope of her neck to his hungry eyes. God's honest truth, he had been staring, but he wasn't the only one. Eyes from all over the room were attracted to her. Even all her art club buddies with their paint stained jeans and avant-garde hair cuts were eyeing her cleavage when she wasn't looking. He was far from Maya's only admirer. Of course, none of them had a Farkle breathing down their necks.

"Fine, I was staring," Lucas admitted. "But that doesn't mean anything."

"Pfft," Farkle shook his head. "You always do this. You and Riley did this all through middle school, dancing around each other, never admitting how you really felt, and ultimately missing your chance to be together."

"That was for the best, though," Lucas said. "It wasn't meant to be. We weren't ready for anything real, and by the time we were, we were over each other."

"That's true, but that's Riley," Farkle said. "You had a crush on her. This thing with Maya, it's something different. It's something more."

"Look, Farkle—"

"You've been doing this for three years!" Farkle raised his voice so Lucas couldn't interrupt him. "We're seniors now. We're almost out of here. If the two of you keep skirting around each other, by the time graduation rolls around you'll have spun out of each other's orbit. You'll have missed your chance. And, buddy, I don't want to see that happen to two of my best friends."

"You're talkin' like all I have to do is walk up to her and tell her how I feel," Lucas said. "You're forgettin' that I could ask her out and she could say no. She _will_ say no. That's the whole reason I've never said anything. It's bad enough knowing that she doesn't feel the same. The last thing I need is to hear her say it out loud."

It had always been easier for Lucas to deny his feelings for Maya Hart—deny, deny, deny was his mantra. Pretending he didn't like her hurt less than admitting that his feelings were unrequited. He didn't have to tell her how he felt to know it was one sided. Anyone with half a brain could tell that she didn't look at him as anything more than a friend. He only assumed that she didn't like him that way, because she obviously didn't. There would have been indicators if she did. Maya wouldn't have been able to hide it even if she wanted to. She wasn't built to keep those kinds of emotions to herself.

Back in middle school, when Maya liked Riley's uncle, she went out of her mind every time they were in the same room. She lost all control of her body and her mouth. She was madness personified, spouting off nonsense and acting like a maniac. It pushed her to her limits. It made her jump on his back and crash college parties. She didn't do any of those things when it came to Lucas. There was that one time she jumped on his back, but that was entirely out of context. The point was that Maya _didn't_ like him. He would know if she did.

"And how, pray tell, do you know that she'll say no if you've never asked her?" Farkle asked.

"Come on," Lucas said. "You remember how she was when she liked Josh. If you know me well enough to know that I like her, then I know her well enough to know that she doesn't like me."

"What if you're wrong?" Farkle pointed a fry at Lucas.

Lucas reached out and snatched the fry from his friend's hand. He ate it before he could be stopped. "I'm not. I mean—"

"Where Are The Signs?!" Riley nearly shouted as she slammed down onto the bench next to Farkle. Her face was tinged pink from exertion and she was panting slightly. She had her thick planner open when she sat down and she was thumbing through it already. "Where are they?"

Lucas blinked at her. "Excuse me?"

Riley raised her eyes to look at him. "The signs. For the Valentine's Dance? The ones Maya said she would make for us. I swear she said they would be done today. They _need_ to be done today. I have to have them up by the end of the lunch hour or we won't sell any tickets and if we don't sell any tickets then no one will be there and the student council will realize I'm not qualified and I'll be impeached as class president and I'll never get into college—"

"Riley, breathe," Farkle grabbed her by the shoulders. "It's going to be fine. The signs are done. Maya left them in the art room to finish drying this morning."

"Phew," Riley said, rocking forward to rest her head on Farkle's chest. "My future is saved."

Farkle looked over at Lucas pointedly and gestured his head in the direction of Maya and her art club friends across the room.

"Why don't I grab Maya and help her get the signs?" Lucas said. "Then we can all help put them up before lunch is over."

"Thank you, Lucas," Riley said. "That would be lovely. I'm just going to rest here while you do that."

Farkle stroked a hand through Riley's hair. "I thinks she tuckered herself out with that little outburst."

"I'll be right back," Lucas said.

Lucas crossed the cafeteria in quick strides, side stepping around tables and stray freshman still looking for a seat. Maya was laughing again when he came up beside her. This time she had her hand resting on the shoulder of the nearest of her art club admirers. With just a glance, Lucas could tell the guy was leaning into Maya's touch, and soaking up her attention with immense enjoyment. Jealousy flared like a wildfire in the pit of his stomach, but he squashed it down. He had no more claim on Maya Hart than this blue haired artiste, who may or may not have been named Raul as Lucas was hazy on the last time Maya had introduced them.

Lucas cleared his throat.

Maya dropped her hand from Possibly Raul, and turned to smile up at Lucas. "What's happenin', Hop Along?"

"Riley is having a meltdown," Lucas said carefully, trying to pretend that her smile wasn't doing ridiculous things to his stomach. "She needs the signs you made for the dance about ten minutes ago."

"Does this storm brewing have a grade?" Maya asked, arching up onto her toes to see around Lucas to their usual table.

"I think Farkle's got it covered at the moment," Lucas gestured to where Farkle had Riley cradled against his side. "But I wouldn't take any chances. She could go nuclear if she doesn't see the finished signs right now."

"Alright, let's go get 'em while the lovebirds are still intertwined," Maya said. "Give me a hand, Ranger Rick?"

Lucas rolled his eyes and prepared to return something snarky in her direction. Nothing made it past his lips though, because she chose that moment to literally take his hand and tug him toward the cafeteria exit. Intelligent thought dropped right out of his head after that. Her hand was so small and warm around his that he almost forgot what they were supposed to be doing. The feel of her fingers laced with his made him want to squeeze her hand a little tighter, to pull her to a stop right there in the hallway, and kiss her up against the lockers. But she didn't want that. She wanted to lead him to the art room to collect the signs, that was all.

Maya released his hand to let them into the classroom. Lucas stretched and clenched his fingers on his now empty hand, already missing the feel of hers in it. The signs were laid out across all the empty counter space in the room. Maya took a couple minutes to check each one before she moved the weights holding down the corners. Lucas came up behind her to view her handiwork over her shoulder. These were not the generic bubble letter signs simply advertising the date and time of the dance that the leadership students usually cranked out themselves. Each of these was a work of art in itself; all the information about the dance was there but each sign was a mini mural of romantic images. Maya had out done herself.

"These are amazing," Lucas said.

Maya smiled down at the sign. "Well, Riley demands the best of me."

"I'm serious, Maya," Lucas said. "I knew you were talented, but this is just beyond...You're nothing short of amazing yourself, Short Stack."

"Thank you," Maya said, turning her head to rest it on her shoulder so she could meet Lucas's eyes.

When she smiled like that, her eyes lit up and Lucas was proud to have put it there. It made his own lips curl upwards. He kept his eyes centered on hers and, if he didn't already know that her heart wasn't in it, he would kiss her right there simply because their smiles deserved to meet. Instead, he dropped his gaze to take in the chipped linoleum beneath his feet and stepped away from her.

Maya shrugged her shoulders high and released a long breath. "We should get these back to Riley before she realizes that Farkle's just trying to distract her."

"Okay," Lucas agreed. He took the signs she handed him and they headed back in the direction of the cafeteria.

For the first couple halls they were quiet. Lucas figured that they would stay that way for the whole walk. He had a strange nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him he had missed something important. Whatever it was, he couldn't put his finger on it. It was a little unnerving, because he couldn't figure out what it was. Then Maya broke him out of his concentration by asking him a question.

"So," Maya drew out the short word. "Have you asked anyone to this shindig yet, Sundance?"

"No," Lucas shook his head.

"Well, do you have a special girl in mind?" Maya asked.

Lucas shook his head again. "I might not go at all."

"You have to go. Riley has run herself ragged planning this thing. You're obligated, as one of her best friends, to be there," Maya said. Lucas started to protest further, but she shushed him. "You know, I don't have a date either. You could," she rocked her head as she mulled over her next words, "ask me."

"But we're friends."

"And?"

"It's Valentine's Day," Lucas said. "Everyone's going to be couples, or people hoping to be couples."

"Why can't we be that?" Maya's voice was quieter than he had ever heard it, but it came through loud and clear.

"Because that's not what you want," Lucas said. He frowned at all the hearts blended into the signs he carried.

"Alright, Cowboy," Maya pulled him to a stop. "So, you're the authority on what I want and don't want now?"

"You've never acted like that's what you want," Lucas replied.

"And how exactly am I supposed to act?" From the tone of her voice, he could tell that she would have had her hands on her hips if she wasn't carefully handling her signs.

"Well, I, you," Lucas cleared his throat as he found himself stammering over his words.

"You need some more time to mull it over?" Maya teased, making no attempt to suppress the gin that was playing on her lips. "Come on, muster up some of that howdy do, down home courage and tell me what you really think."

"When you liked Josh you literally went crazy for him," Lucas said.

"Literally, huh?"

"Yes, _literally_ ," Lucas repeated. He finally looked up again. "No one who is sane goes around jumping on people's backs or devolving into hysterical nonsense."

"Mmm," Maya hummed. "And you assume that I don't like you because I don't melt into a puddle of incoherent dreamy girl goop at the sight of your smile, or lose control of my mouth when you're around, or tackle you each time you enter a room?"

Lucas shrugged.

"Did you ever stop to think that I don't act that way around you because I _really_ like you?" Maya took a step closer to him. "Like more than I should, risk it all you _stupid girl_ , like you?"

Lucas shook his head.

"Let me tell you this," Maya said. "The way I liked Josh was juvenile. I've grown up since then. I think a part of me acted like that because it was never going to be real, so why should I hold back? And I was fearless back then, because I had nothing to lose."

"And now?" Lucas gulped.

"Everything is riding on you, Cowboy," Maya said. "So, what do you say?"

There was a moment in the middle of all this that Lucas honestly felt like he must be dreaming. That his brain had shut off somewhere between approaching Maya in the cafeteria and her taking his hand. That all of this was some fantasy concoction his mind had come up with to torture him. Then, he really took a good look at Maya as she stood in front of him, wearing this gorgeous small smile on her lips and hope in her eyes. It dawned on him that he had seen this look painted over her before. He had seen it quite often actually. He had seen it in the cafeteria when her hand dropped away from Possibly Raul, and she looked up at him in anticipation. He had seen it again in the art room when he had let his compliments spill freely off his tongue. This was what he had missed in that moment. That, _this_ was the look that most commonly graced her features when she looked at him.

Lucas had been looking for the signs that Maya might return his feelings and finding nothing, because he had been looking for the wrong signs. He had it all wrong, and, for once, he had no problem admitting that.

"I don't want you to hold back with me, " Lucas said. "I want this to be something real too, but I like this perfectly composed Maya as much as I like the reckless, crazy, passionate Maya. It wouldn't hurt to know that I can have that kind of effect on you too."

"You want to know what effect you have on me, huh?" Maya said, getting that mischievous glint in her eyes that he was trying to inspire.

Before Lucas could formulate a proper and coherent response, Maya had taken the signs from his hands and let the whole stack flutter to the floor. He only just caught himself before he let a complaint about tossing the signs aside. Something told him that it wasn't the time. It was an instinct he needed to trust more often because it saved him from interrupting what happened next. Free of any obstacles, Maya leaped up into Lucas's arms in one swift motion, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. For a split second, he was too surprised to move, but then he recovered enough to bring his arms around to support her. Cradling her against him, he had a moment to register the giant matching grins on their faces before Maya brought them together. As they kissed there in the empty hallway surrounded by the fallen Valentine's Dance signs, Lucas didn't care that he hadn't seen the indicators that this was possible. All that mattered was that it led to this.

Maya pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. "How's that for not holding back?"

Lucas smiled, "I think I could get used to this, Short Stack. It brings us face to face."

"HAR!" Maya swooped her face back in toward his, brushing her nose across his and then dropped her lips to his again.

They stayed that way until the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. It wasn't the bell itself that broke them apart. They had kissed right through it, even as people started to spill out into the hall. No, the thing that snapped them back to reality was that familiar voice echoing down the corridor in a booming volume to remind them that their moment had distracted them from the mission at hand.

"Where are the signs?!"

-fin-


End file.
